Word.ws English Dictionary

barrel organ

barrel organ noun: a musical instrument in which air from a bellows is admitted to a set of pipes by means of pins inserted into a revolving barrel (typically turned by a crank), originating in France.

barrel organ: a musical instrument in which air from a bellows is admitted to a set of pipes by means of pins...
Image: cs:ŠJů, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

barrel organ (plural barrel organs)

  1. A musical instrument in which air from a bellows is admitted to a set of pipes by means of pins inserted into a revolving barrel (typically turned by a crank), originating in France.
    • Poor Mrs. Cranch was bulky, and, breathing asthmatically, had the additional motive for making her remarks unexceptionable and giving them a general bearing, that even her whispers were loud and liable to sudden bursts like those of a deranged barrel-organ.1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], Middlemarch […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book (please specify |book=I to...
    • Ragged children played in the road, and an old barrel-organ was grinding out a vulgar tune.1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter LXXXIII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC

barrel organ meaning in Arabic

barrel organ in Arabic

pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
أُرْغُن يَدَوِيّ ʔurḡun yadawiyy

Synonyms of barrel organ

Forms of barrel organ

pluralbarrel organs
alternative formbarrel-organ

Words formed from barrel organ

Questions about barrel organ

What does barrel organ mean?
Barrel organ means a musical instrument in which air from a bellows is admitted to a set of pipes by means of pins inserted into a revolving barrel (typically turned by a crank), originating in France.
What is barrel organ in Arabic?
Barrel organ in Arabic is أُرْغُن يَدَوِيّ (ʔurḡun yadawiyy). See Barrel organ meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is barrel organ?
Barrel organ is a noun.
What is the plural of barrel organ?
The plural of barrel organ is barrel organs.

Words near barrel organ in the dictionary

  1. barrel of fun
  2. barrel of land
  3. barrel of laughs
  4. barrel of monkeys
  5. barrel of sunshine
  6. barrel organ
  7. barrel organist
  8. barrel organists
  9. barrel organs
  10. barrel piano
  11. barrel pianos

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: barrel organ (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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